Sliding door lock



- L. E. JOHNSCN, JR

SLIDING DOOR LOCK Jul 1, 1969 Sheet o f3 Filed Jan. 30. 1968 INVENTOR. A00 714167 I fiZflJwgJi g", he.

July 1, 1969 E. JOHNSON, JR

SLIDING DOOR LOCK Sheet Filed Jan. 30, 1968 INVENTOR.

ITTOF/VEX United States Patent 3,453,014 SLIDING DOOR LOCK Leonard E. Johnson, Jr., 7 Susquehanna Road, Elkhart, Ind. 62634 Filed Jan. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 701,718 Int. Cl. Ec 19/10 US. Cl. 292-98 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rotatable latch is mounted in the edge of a door between fixed, slotted guide members to enage a latch pin. Movement of a transverse actuating member moves a slide member longitudinally to rotate the latch out of engagement with the latch pin. A privacy lock actuable from one side of the door may be unlocked from the opposite side through limited access actuating means.

This invention relates generally to locks and more particularly to locks for sliding doors. An example of one form of sliding door lock is shown in my earlier US. Patent No. 2,723,148 wherein the lock is recessed into a specially formed opening in the edge of the door and a finger hole handle is provided to draw the door from its pocket. The lock of the present invention is constructed to fit into a standard bore often provided in the door by the manufacturer thereof or easily drilled by the lock installer and is also constructed to have a minimum of parts. A door having a lock of the present invention installed may be withdrawn from its pocket without need of a special handle.

Other advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following description taken in connection with the appended drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side view showing a sliding door lock embodying the present invention installed in a door;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3--3 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the position of parts in unlatching position;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view of FIGURE 4 showing the position of parts in the locked position; and

FIGURE 7 is a view taken along line 77 of FIG- URE 2.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURE 1, numeral 10 designates a sliding door lock assembly having a cup member 12 mounted in a door 14 and having housing 16 mounted in a bore 18 formed in the edge of a door 20. The housing 16 is preferably made of plastic, such as nylon, with upper half 22 and lower half 24 held together by suitable pins 26.

A bipartite guide member 28 having identically formed upper and lower members 30 and 32 is disposed in housing 16 with projecting end portions 34 and 36 having aligned slots 38 and 40, respectively, formed in end portions 34 and 36 to receive latch pin 42 which is mounted in cup member 12. A latch member 44 is rotatably mounted on a pivot 46 for rotation in a plane between the upper and lower guide members 30 and 32. An opening 48 is formed in latch member 44 and is provided with an angular cam surface 50 which is adapted to engage a pin 52 carried by a reciprocable bipartite slide member 54. The two parts of the slide member 54 are identical and are secured together by pins 56. One end 58 of slide member 54 is formed with a cam surface which is adapted to engage a complementary shaped surface 60 formed in r 3,453,014 Patented July 1, 1969 ice actuating member 62 which is mounted in a bore 64 for reciprocation in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the slide member 54. Springs 66 and 68 urge slide member 54 toward the latched position wherein slide member 54 is in its extreme position to the right, as shown in FIGURE 2. A spring 70 engages the housing wall and a lug 72 formed on latch member 44 to urge the latch member toward the latched position as shown in FIGURE 2.

A detent 74 having a straight side 76 and an angular side 78 is formed in actuating member 62 and is adapted to receive an abutment 80 having complementary shaped sides 82 and 84, respectively. Abutment 80 is actuated toward the locked position, as shown in FIGURE 6, by a first button 86 which is reciprocably mounted in a transverse bore 88 formed in housing 16 and adapted to engage a cam surface 90 formed on the leading edge of a transverse bore 92 in abutment 80. A second button 94 is disposed in transverse bore 96 and is adapted to engage a cam surface 98 formed on an edge of bore 92 opposite to cam 90. Limited access to the second button 94 is provided through the small hole 100 formed in the face plate 102. A spring 104 urges said first and second buttons apart toward limit positions defined by engagement of pins 106 and 108 respectively carried by the first and second buttons 86 and 94 with an end of corresponding slots 110 and 112 formed respectively in bores 88 and 96.

A face plate 114 is adapted to be secured to the edge of door 20 by suitable screws 116 and is provided upper, lower and middle slots designated respectively 118, 120 and 122, as best seen in FIGURE 7. The width of the middle slot 122 is greater than the upper and lower slots and is sufficiently wide to permit the passage there through of the end portions 34 and 36 of guide members 30 and 32. The widths of upper and lower slots 118 and are smaller than the widths of end portions 34 and 36, but are greater than the widths of neck portions 124 and 126 of guide members 30 and 32 respectively. The bipartite guide member 28 and latch member 44 are assembled by passing the projecting end portion 38 through the middle slot until the neck portion 124 can be moved into the upper slot 118 and by passing end portion 40 through the middle slot until neck portion 126 can be moved into the lower slot 120. Latch member 44 is then inserted between guide members 30 and 32 and passed through middle slot 122 to a position where the pivot pin 46 can be inserted.

Cup shaped face plates 102 and 128 are mounted on opposite sides of door 20 to cover a standard transverse bore 130 which permits access to actuating member 62 and first and second buttons 86 and 94. Plates 102 and 128 also act as a finger grip or handle to facilitate movement of the door.

In operation, movement of the actuating member 62 inwardly from the position shown in FIGURE 2 to the position shown in FIGURE 4 causes surface 60 to engage cam surface 58 to move slide member 54 longitudinally whereby pin 52 acts against cam surface 50 to rotate latch member clockwise to the unlatched position. Springs 66, 68 and 70 urge the parts toward the latch position shown in FIGURE 2. When the door 20 is moved from the open to closed position, the guide member 28 and latch member 44 enter the cup member 12 with the latch member 44 in the latched position. The cammed end of latch member 44 strikes latch pin 42 causing the member 44 to be rotated clockwise in opposition to springs 66, 68 and 70 until the hooked portion of latch member can engage latch pin 42 whereupon the springs cause the latch member to rotate counterclockwise into the latched position. Unless locked the actuating member 62 may be moved from either side of the door to operate the latch member. Face plates 102 and 128 provide access to the actuating member 62 and first and second buttons 86 and 94 and also act as a finger grip or handle to facilitate movement of the door. When the face plates 102 and 128 are covered, as when the door 20 is completely within its pocket, the projecting guide members 34 and 36 are used as a handle to move the door.

The latch may be locked by pushing the first button 86 inwardly causing abutment 80 to engage detent 74 wherein the parts assume the positions shown in FIGURE 6. In this position the actuating member 62 can be moved only from one side of the door, the lower side as shown in the drawings. Movement from this one side brings the cam surfaces 78 and 84 into engagement and causes the abutment 80 to be retracted from detent 74. The latch may also be unlocked by inward movement of the second button 94 which may be accomplished by inserting a suitable probe through the limited access hole 100.

As can be seen, the sliding door lock of the present invention may be installed in a bore 18 in a sliding door. Access to the actuating member 62 and first and second buttons is through a transverse bore 130. The use of such bores is standard practice in swinging doors and the present invention permits sliding doors to follow a similar standard practice. In any event the bores are easily made. The lock is assembled in two halves with most of the upper and lower parts being identical to keep manufacturing costs low and to facilitate assembly. Although the lock has been shown with the cup member 12 mounted in an adjacent door, it is obvious that the cup member could be mounted in a door jamb.

It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A lock assembly for a sliding door comprising:

a cup member having a latch pin mounted therein,

a housing adapted to be mounted in an edge of said door opposite said cup member,

a guide member disposed in said housing and having an end projecting therefrom which is adapted to extend into said cup member when said door is in closed position,

a latch member rotatably mounted in said housing adjacent said guide member and adapted for latching engagement with said latch pin,

a slide member reciprocably mounted in said housing to cammingly engage said latch member whereby said latch member is rotated when said slide member is moved longitudinally, and

an actuating member reciprocably mounted in said housing for engagement with said slide member to move said slide member longitudinally in response to transverse movement of said actuating member to cause said latch member to be rotated in a direction to disengage said latch member from said latch pin.

2. The lock of claim 1 wherein the guide member is composed of an upper member and a lower member and the latch member being mounted between said upper and lower guide members, and said upper and lower guide members having projecting end portions with aligned slots formed therein for receiving said latch pin.

3. The lock of claim 2 wherein the guide members are formed with a neck portion narrower than said projecting end portion, and a face plate is formed with upper, lower and middle slots to respectively receive the neck portion of the upper and lower guide members and the latch member, the width of the upper and lower slots being smaller than the width of the projecting end portions of said guide members and the width of the middle slot being greater than the width of said projecting end portions.

4. The lock of claim 1 wherein the latch member is formed with an opening having a cam surface formed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said latch member, and wherein said slide member is bipartite and disposed to straddle said slide member, and a pin connecting the parts of said slide member and extending through said opening for engagement with said cam surface.

5. The lock of claim 1 wherein said actuating member is formed with a detent having a substantially straight side and an angular side, an abutment reciprocably mounted in said housing having a straight side and an angular side adapted for respective engagement with the straight and angular sides of said detent; a first button having a one way connection with said abutment for moving said abutment into engagement with said detent to thereby prevent movement of said actuating member in one direction, movement of said actuating member in the opposite direction being effective to move said abutment out of engagement with said detent.

6. The lock of claim 5 having a second button disposed on a side of the door opposite to said first button and having a one way connection with said abutment for moving said abutment in a direction to disengage the abutment from said detent, and means defining a restricted access to said second button.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,545,645 3/1951 Blakely 292127 2,793,061 5/1957 Dell 292-6 3,044,287 7/ 1962 Pelcin 99 3,090,643 5/1963 Barnes 292 3,121,319 2/1964 Webster 70-150 3,182,928 5/1965 Gaylord 244-1 RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner.

R. L. WOLFF, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 292-124, 127 

